This is a wonderful way for children to learn their letters! I look forward to the excitement from our friend's children on their next visit - they'll love it! PROS: - The toy is very sturdy, solidly built - this isn't a toy that will easily break. - No electricity, charging, or batteries needed. - Has a carrying handle suitable for little hands. - It is decorated with bright colors that are part of the plastic, not just painted on the surface. - The magnetic tracing wand is attached to the toy in its handle. - It has capital letters on one side, and lower case letters on the flip side. - The consonant letters are blue, and the vowels are red. - The letters have numbered lines, showing which order to trace the 'write' the letter. - When tracing letters with the magnetic wand, small metal beads 'click' into the tracing path. - The beads stay raised, even after tracing, allowing them to review their success. NOTE: Once the beads are raised into the letters they remain so. To reset the letter for tracing, press the beads back into the toy's base. This is a brilliant learning toy. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this toy, and am putting it on our list of favorite learning toys for children.

This letter board has exceeded my expectations! It is large and sturdy without being heavy and made to last. It is colorful and offers two sides- one with capital letters and the other with lowercase letters. The stylus is the perfect size for young writers and is attached to the board (with a slot to snap it into when the board isn't in use) so that it won't get lost. This board is easy to use and offers a nice tactile feel while running the stylus over each letter. There are arrows provided to give direction if desired and you can feel each magnetized marble click into place as you draw the letter. The marbles are very secure so I have no worries about them coming out or being a choking hazard. This offers sensory input for my daughter as she practices her letters and she has used this for long periods of time. This board is sturdy, colorful and offers great tactile practice for learning to write letters. I would recommend this for young children practicing their letters.

I think I'd give this 4.5 stars if I could, but rounding up for the review. When I tried this out, I noticed that sometimes the "pen" gets stuck while pushing it forward in the same direction that the point is facing. That might just be due to the angle that I held it though. Usually not an issue though! You have to make sure you actually trace the letters and drag the pen over the board at slow/moderate speeds otherwise 1-2 magnets might not get picked up. For a kid though, where they're just learning to write, this will work just fine!

I chose these for use in my preschool classroom to help students with fine motor strength, letter recognition, and proper writing technique. I like almost everything about this board - it is double sided with upper case and lower case letters, it shows the order of letter strokes, vowels are differentiated by being red, etc. The only thing I dislike is that the lower case letter "t" is curved. This board is very popular in my classroom!